


Decoding the Conversation in the Church

by roxyeisen



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Analysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 13:47:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14106711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roxyeisen/pseuds/roxyeisen
Summary: I've been trying to crack the code of Mulder and Scully's conversation in the church at the end of “Nothing Lasts Forever." After some rumination over M/S's cryptic discussion patterns over the years, this is what I believe they probably meant with their vague, confusing conversation. And it’s good news! (Which we all need after that horrible excuse for a finale filled with lies.)





	Decoding the Conversation in the Church

Scully: (as the prayer candle she just lit in church blows out) It must be a sign. I'm all out of miracles. Turn Back. Give up. Accept your place in the numbing embrace of the status quo.

Mulder: Uh-uh. (Mulder picks up a taper and relights her candle.) I will relight your candle and extend your prayers through mine.

_Translation: Scully jokingly supposes maybe she’s asked for too much as she lights the candle with her prayer. I like to think she lit the first candle for William. Mulder rejects this notion that she has to settle for less than her biggest hopes and dreams and offers his own prayers on behalf of hers._

Scully: What prayers?

Mulder: Can’t tell you. Then they won’t come true.

Scully: It’s a prayer candle, Mulder, not a birthday cake. (chuckles) Prayers aren’t meant to be sentiment. It’s a conversation. You can do it like a meditation. Or if your needs exceed your grasp, you can ask God to intercede on your behalf.

(He nods.)

Scully: But you don’t believe in God. So you’d essentially be talking to yourself.

_Translation: Scully does this a lot. She thinks she knows how Mulder feels about certain things, like religion, so she begins her statements with assumptions he didn’t necessarily say. I think she does this to “lead” him to the answer she hopes he’ll find. He, of course, knows exactly what she is and isn’t saying and isn’t troubled by it, nor does he accept her analysis._

Mulder: I may not believe in God but I believe in you. And therefore I speak to him through you. So it’s the transitive property of equality. If A = B and B = C therefore A = C. Reason and faith in harmony – isn’t that why we’re so good together?

_Translation: He is essentially saying that they have become one person. They are so close to each other that they are two halves of a whole, and since they equal each other, if she has an open line of communication with God, then so does he._

Scully: (teasing, hesitant, doesn’t look him straight in the eye) Are we together?

_Translation: She meant this one exactly how it sounded. She’s been tiptoeing around this question the whole season, trying to get him to say for sure. This is kind of funny, because SHE’S the one who left. Mulder never gave up on her or left her. Essentially, he’s been standing there the whole time and she’s the one who has to decide to come back._

(He takes his time answering. He is opening his mouth to speak when she interrupts him.)

_Translation: He was most likely wondering whether to say what I just pointed out above. Maybe she chickens out and doesn’t want to hear what he was going to say._

Scully: You know, I believed I could protect our son – and I failed. I believed we could live together – and I fled. I gave up on that, too. 

_Translation: I’ve done a bad job at loving the people closest to me._

Mulder: (nods) If only you’d fled earlier.

(She looks confused/hurt.)

Mulder: (looking her in the eye) You know how many times I’ve envisioned that scenario where you left that basement office before I even needed glasses? You’d have your health. Your dog. Your sister. You’d be Kersh’s boss at the FBI. You’d be married to some brain surgeon and have a bunch of kids that you wouldn’t have to give up.

_Translation: Mulder decides to be the most transparent he ever has been with her about something big in their relationship. He feels a lot of guilt and responsibility for the ways her association with him have forever altered her life and her destiny. He loves her so incredibly much that he would give her up if it meant that she could have a happy life and all of her dreams could come true._

Scully: Mulder, I don’t begrudge you any of those things. That’s not what I was talking about.

_Translation: You don’t have to feel guilty about that anymore, Mulder. I’m here because I choose to be. I CHOOSE YOU. I don’t want that life, I want this life, this unbreakable bond I have with you, and I don’t care that it cost me those things anymore._

Mulder: Well, what are you talking about, Scully? Because I don't know if any god is listening, but I am standing right here. And I am listening. Right beside you. I'm all ears. That's my choice.

_Translation: I CHOOSE YOU. I never moved away from you and I never will. You can safely tell me what you want to do with the rest of your life and not be afraid of my response, because I am up for anything as long as it’s with you._

Scully : (looks around church to see that they are alone, whispers something inaudible in his ear, then continues talking in normal voice as he mentally processes what she whispered) That's not my four-year-old self looking for a miracle. That's my leap of faith forward. And I'd like to do it together.

_Translation: I know we’re not supposed to know what she said, but by process of elimination, I can pretty much guess. I am sure the last word she said was William. “I know it’s impossible, but I want to have another child. And I need to find William.” What does she mean by all this? She’s decided that they are done with the separation. They are going to stay together from now on, and they are going to pursue this impossible miracle by seeking fertility treatment (which in the end, they miraculously don’t need because their prayers are answered.) They are going to find William, their son. Their story is going to end the way it should. And this will be accomplished not by childish birthday wishes, but by the strength of faith in a God of miracles and a bond of love that has already survived so much and become so strong. Love is going to win in their story._

Mulder : (he nods) I've always wondered how this was gonna end.

_Translation: That ending works for him._

(He reaches for a taper and lights another prayer candle.)

_This candle is for the child they are praying for together, as a couple who has resolved and promised each other to stay together, as a family, for the rest of their lives._

_One last observation. The song sung in Latin behind their conversation ends with an Aramaic word "Amen." Essentially, this word means “So be it.”_


End file.
